Tour?

Despite the fact that I've been drinking pretty much every night, I attempted to have a tour around Edinburgh.

So far, I've been to three major places in Edinburgh.

First, the "downtown" of the city!

The city is just beautiful.

Whenever I

think of a city, the first thing that comes in my is usually cities like Chicago or New York. Obviously, as a lover of relatively quite environment, I HATED cities.

While Edinburgh is actually a city and has quite large population and visitors, it didn't seem that crowded. Most importantly, it didn't smell horrible.

Maybe because the city is surrounding a gigantic mountain/hill? Who knows? I really like the its environment.

Second, King's buildings!

There are two main campuses in Edinburgh: Central Area and King's buildings.

Most (like 99%) of sciences+engineering courses are held in King's buildings, and (I believe) others are held in the Central Area. When I checked out the courses that I'll be taking, I noticed that all of my courses are in King's buildings, which is kind of bad since my room is 40 minutes away from the buildings. I might just get a bike or something.

Anyhow, when I went on a scheduled tour, I was extremel

y tired, so I didn't take that many pictures. but here's one;

The building in the picture is called Ashworth Lab, and... it's for Zoology!

In addition to this building, there are about 28 buildings, and one of them is called James Clerk Maxwell building, which is named after the most famous classical physicist. Oh dear, how can I ever forget his name.

Also, there's a house called KB house, which is like a bar+center. It would make sense if the house has a bar, pool tables, and a cafe, but this house also has a gym.

hm... interestingly enough, they have a number of ergs...

I think I'll just workout right after I get out of my classes.

Lastly, I went on Arthur's Seat, a huge hill that is surround by the city.

It's like Mt. David near Bates, but it's bigger and better looking.

That flat hill in the picture is Arthur's Seat. It's kind of steep to climb on, but the top is actually flat. On the way to the hill, I had to across a road that goes around the hill, and I thought it was the most beautiful cycle route. I wish I could just bring my bike and ride around Edinburgh. In fact, that's what I should do!

I don't think I got on the top, but I still where I took the following picture provided good enough of a view of the city.

Of course, there are a ton of places I can visit, but I'm hoping to visit them through out the year. Who isn't excited?

Hey bro, i'm in edin'bro'

yeah, i've used that joke already. but i think it's quite good one, since i've heard scottish people pronouncing that way.

anyhow, my first "full" day has been really pleasant.

on my first official day, the 11th, i went out with american friends who i met at the Amsterdam airport. it was good, since i got to see different places in edinburgh, but i didnt get a chance to meet scottish (or british).

today, i officially introduced myself to my flat-mates, who are either scottish or english.

actually, i was worried little bit, because UK didnt seem to be as diverse as US, but guess what? i dont know if i'm just really lucky or not, my flat-mates are fantastic.

although i had some hard time understanding scottish accents and phrases, they seemed to be really cool.

gosh, in fact, i just came back from the ceilidh dance party, it was great. i was jumping around too much that i would almost call it a work-out.

it seems like everything is going well so far. i cant wait for tomorrow's events that i planned like a month ago.

pre-departure

So....

I am going abroad. I mean, Scotland.

Yes, for the first time in... ~12 years, I'm going to Europe, and I'll be studying in Europe.

Although this isn't official, I'm actually thinking about getting a job, or spending my post-academia in Europe. So, this abroad experience will be like a preview of that plan.

Anyhow, this is quite expensive. I figured I'll be spending over $10G, and I decided that I should start a journal. How cool is that?

Just to let you know , I'm super duper lazy and non-verbal. In other words, although I will try post something everyday, it's possible that I skip a day or two, or just put up a picture and let you come up with a story.

Yeah, hopefully, I'll come up with better stuff to write about as I read other people's blogs.